Re the article “Shire sea level rise debate” (Leader, June 8).
For 60 years I have been fishing and swimming in the Cronulla area and have not seen any sign of rising sea levels, although I am not an environmental scientist.
As a fisherman I always looked to Fort Denison/Sydney Harbor for tide levels and a 128 year long tide gauge from Fort Denison indicates a rate of 6.5cm a century.
Measurements at Sydney between 2005 and 2014 showed the tide gauge site is sinking at a rate of 0.49 mm/year leaving just 0.16 mm per year.
Sutherland Shire Council claims the sea levels will rise by 72cm by 2100 based on computer projections of the UNS Intergovernmental Panel on climate change and also by satellite altimetry measurements.
If Sutherland Shire Council place this sea level rise on 149 Zoning Certificates it will have immediate detrimental effects on Sutherland Shire property values as in other shires (Eurobodalla Shire) and extra insurance costs will be incurred.
Surely a practical and not a theoretical point of view should be taken, NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory says these estimates contain errors larger than the sea level claimed and proposes spending more than $US 100 million on launching a new satellite to rectify and correct the situation.
Robert Steege, Caringbah
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Sea levels are rising at Botany Bay and a University of NSW student will study what residents think about the situation (‘‘Study looks at rising sea levels’’, Leader, June 22).
Sutherland Shire Council Council also wants comment from local residents on its Draft ’Sea Level Rise’ Policy (expected rise of 73cms by the end of the century).
Without the benefit of study results, I’d guess that most locals - perhaps especially people at Doll’s Point (‘‘Bayside homes awash’’, Leader, June 22) - think sea level rise is generally not a good thing.
Anyone know what’s causing it?
Pauline McKelvey, Kirrawee
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It is almost inconceivable that in the year 2016 there are still people claiming that climate change does not exist.
The amount of scientific evidence proving that this planet is undergoing change, and not for the better, is now a given.
Quite predictably, the Federal Member for Hughes is an ally of the former Prime Minister Abbott in their denial of climate change. I find this position somewhat infantile as adherence to this point of view flies in the face of volumes of indisputable evidence.
This is not an opinion on a moral issue but the choice to acknowledge scientific research agreed by 97 per cent of climate change scientists or to keep one’s head in the sand.
The Federal MP for Hughes belongs to an increasingly small minority on this matter and surely does not represent the views of the Hughes electorate.
Perhaps Mr Kelly could speak to school children about this matter and learn from their thirst for knowledge and acceptance of scientific rigour.
Peter Ikin